THE DAILY EVENING ' TELKG K APII PHILADELPHIA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1867.
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
DITOBIAIi OPINIONS Of TBK LKADPIO JODBNAXB
PPO CCBRKNT TOPICS COMPILED EVEKT
PAT FOB TBI EVENING TFLKOBAPH.
Indian Affaire.
From the K. V. Independent.
What we Lear from the Indian Comuiis
Blonera does not afford ground of hope for a
Bpeody or satisfactory adjustment of the diffi
culties in that quarter. This discouragement
is not due to any niggardliness, severity, disiu
genuousness, or cruelty on the part of the
Government; nor to aDy surliness, stupidity,
beastliness, or jealousy on the part of the
Indians. The Commissioners go from tribe to
tribe, with their message of peace and
good-wiil, unmolested, respected. They make
very handsome speeches; they are profuse and
apparently sincere in promises. If the Indians
will only he quiet; will move away to new
lands, where they need not fear the white men
nor the white men them; if they will
pursue agriculture and the arts of
peace; will plant and reap, and gene
rally cultivate the tranquil fig-tree, they
shall have whatever they want seeds,
utensils, farming implements, civilized cloth
ing, and apparatus for domestio life. The
Government will be their friend. The Indians,
after due silence and smoking, profess, the
most amiable sentiments. They are not noisy,
or turbulent, or querulous. They will go and
look at the new reservations ; they will try on
the civilized coats and hats ; they will be very
glad to receive the ploughs and the shovels ;
they will do their best at tilling the ground.
They honor their grandfather, and especially
General Harney, who had beaten them and
taught them manners. Both sides are unex
ceptionably civil ; but nothing comes of it, and
nothing is likely to come of it. It is not in the
nature of things, perhaps, that anything should
come of it. A far better administration of pub
lio affairs in the West than we ever have had
would probably fail to work out such a
solution of the troublesome problem as will
satisfy a civilized, much less a Christian
people. The truth, as we gather it, seems to
be that the Indians have more cause to dread
peace than war. For peace to them means
banishment from their homes and favorite
hunting grounds, and settlement on other
lands, possibly as good, but in all probability
worse, in their estimate. It means adoption
of a strange and uncongenial kind of life
uninteresting, dull, and deadening; it means
steady labor and thrift, the use of unaccus
tomed implements, and the practice of un
wonted manners. It means, besides all this,
exposure to the same rapacity that has
pursued and plundered them hitherto; it
means knavery of every description, injury,
contempt; it means the non-arrival of funds
appropriated for their benefit by the Govern
ment; the mysterious sinking of vessels
that bring them supplies, and the
consequent withholding of the goods
as "damaged;" it means barter, in
which they always come off second best, and
oppression by lawless men, who will cast on
the Indians the blame of their own violence,
and then call in the aid of Government to
punish the savages for defending themselves
against their outrages. These are evils of
which the Indians have had long and dire ex
perience, and under which they have been
maddened past bearing.
War, on the other hand, is no such dread
ful thing to them. They are well mounted,
and can all ride. They are well armed,
have ammunition, and are good shots. Tiiey
light when and as they please, compelling
the enemy to conform to their tactics.
They have no accoutrements to sp'i.ik of.
They can coiue and go at a moment's notice.
They require little food, aud that slightly
prepared. The Indian wars have always
been more disastrous to their foes
than to them. The white men squander
treasure and life frightfully. Each Indian
slain costs about a thousand dollars and some
half-dozen Boldiers; and the result is trilling.
No war has ever been crushing to them. The
white man must make peace at last. Besides,
until recently, Uncle Sam's bark has been
worse thau his bite. He has threatened so
much, and executed so little bragged of the
hosts he would send, aud sent so few that
the shrewd red men may well doubt whether
his power is as great as he would have his
"children" think. All this may be very un
reasonable, but it is unhappily true. The
Government civilizers teachers, farinnrs,
schoolmasters have not appeared; and, from
the nature of the case, cannot appear iu con
siderable numbers, and the Government troops
have not been formidable. Bo that neither
the policy of peace nor the policy of war
has been tried with sufficient foroe to be
triumphant.
Experienced men say that the best conceiva
ble method of dealing with the Indians would
be to bring them within the precincts of civili
zation, where they can be under the guardian
ship and restraint of law: where they will
neither molest nor be molested; where their
roving propensities must be held in check by
social limits, and their rational humanity may
be stimulated by social innuences. To be for
ver pushing them off into the wilderness is
simply to push oil' the whole question of their
fate, and leave them indelinitely exposed to
precisely the same perils they incur at
present.
But two obstacles stand in the way of this
laudable aud truly Christian proceeding. First
is the inveterate passion for the chase, and the
ancient practice of hunting their food instead
of cultivating it. From time immemorial the
Indian has lived on game, lie must have his
hunting-grounds; aud hunting-grounds must
not only be aloof from the haunts of men, but
they must be wide of margin. Here and there
a tribe takes reluctantly to agriculture, glean
ing a beggarly sustenance from half-tilled soils
But agriculture is not natural to the aavaee.
He must learn it from the beginning; and he
will not learn it well. The whole cause of
the present diluculty is the Pacitto Railroad,
which cuts through their hunting-grounds,
aud drives away their game. This inroad of
laborers and engineers they do not like. Thev
are not quarrelsome; they are not unreasonable
on their principles; but their principles include
l.win. The white men will come where the
bison happen to be; and they assail the white
.nun. There is no reason as yet apparent for
thinking that this obstacle is iu the process of
removal. . it . .. ,
Ti.a ntlir difficulty is the tribal orgamza
,i.i.. i maintained everywhere au
organization the wild uieu have inherited and
i: i ,,,,,-Ur t.imu out of mind. Probably they
would not know how to abandon it, if they
iv,n lftit it would have to be aban-
j.. i u U7i to enter any of the States
,q Tl alWiauce they have been
.,.n,,atn,d to render to their chiefs they
would be oblige l to pay to the laws. Chiel
nubiect would be on ft level in -society.
Could they submit to thatf The commis
siouers gently hint at these necessities as they
Eo about; they speak of the precariousness ol
,viug ty the chase, aud the propriety of living
under law; but it may be questioned whether
i,much of their counsel is coinpreheiiaea ny
their hearers.
This presentation of the case is discouraging.
But there is no euoouraging view of the case
presentable. The at nional authorities wish
lor peace sincerely. General Shermau and his
offioers desire peace. What glory is to be gained
by such a war f But the incessant restlessness
will cause incessant fighting till the railroad is
built. Then the steady flow of travel, the
march of traffic, the sowing of stations preg
nant with towns along the line, will decide the
question against the Indian, who will disappear
with his buffaloes. No "policy" is likely to be
snccensfnl with the savages. Policy lias no
chance to bear on those scattered tribes.
We must all be to a great extent still
at the mercy of circumstances, accept
ing peace or war as they shall dictate ;
peace when we can, war wheu we must. We
can, however, do bomething, and we seem to
be fairly in the way of doing something, to
mitigate the force of circumstances where
they threaten to be most cruel, so that paciflo
measures may preponderate. There is good
promise that henceforth the Government will,
to the full extent of its power, Eecure honest
dealing on the part of its agents; will see that
its contracts are faithfully performed; and will
make allowance for the peculiar sufferings of a
miserable decaying race. That will be much.
It will reach such gentle dispositions as the
Indians cherish, and effect what saving of life
it can.
There is also a good promise that the com
manders of troops despatched to quell the
rioting favages will be not mere adventurers,
but able men, who will do war's work in a
way to make the Indians respect as well as
fear them. More than this we can scarcely
hope for now. But this will finish the task as
mercifully as Buch dreadful task can be done,
They who yield to the Government persuasions
will die erelong from social decay. They who
try issues with men like Custer and Sherman
will perish more quickly by the bullet. Be
tween the two weapons good will and ill
will they will soon be wasted away from the
continent.
Ovations to Grant and Sheridan Grant
and Sheridan for the f uture.
From the N. Y. Herald.
General Sheridan, on his way from Louisiana
to Washington, was the subject of a splendid
demonstration at every important point on the
route; and now again on his way to the West
he is receiving in all our great cities ovations
of the most brilliant, positive, flattering, and
incomprehensible character. In all affairs of
this kind, of course the prime movers are the
political hucksters the keen fellows who
gather around rising men in the hope that they
will be remembered by-and-by when offices
are to be given out. But in thi3 case the poli
ticians have been crowded out of sight by the
masses thronging to do honor to a man who
has done the State substantial service; and the
mean voices of those who bid for office are lost
in the grand roar of enthusiasm, paying the
people's tribute of admiration to one justly
accepted a3 a type 01 all that is noble, gallant,
and pure in a patriotio soldier. Sheridan's
punlio services are such as to give mm a fall
claim to the natiou's warmest gratitude. lie
has served with a bold heart aud ready hand.
with clear eye and upright soul, in fields
where death was everywhere, and in fields
that might have had ttill greater terrors to
one less ready to repeat the course of Alox
axder in disposing of the Gordian knot of
political difficulties. It is a pleasant sight,
therefore, to see the people so broadly and
warmly acknowledging the natiou's debt to
her heroic son.
But, looked at closely, it will be seen that
there is a still deeper significance in all these
cheers, receptions, and other mo tes of ex
pressing the popular sentiment, taken as a
whole, all the ovations from St. Louis to
I'liion Square by way of Washington are one
tremendous and magnificent endorsement of
Grant. They are the general declaration of the
country that Grant was right. They are the
common recognition of Grant's statesmanship,
his administrative ability, his genius to rule,
as illustrated in that rare talent of great rulers
the perception of men's true powers and the
sagacity to put iu every place the mau most
fit to fill it. Napoleon Bonaparte permitted
Dessaix to win a battle that he had lost, ac
cepted strategy from Moreau, made Murat com
mander of the cavalry, Talleyrand Minister of
Foreign Afiairs, and Foucho ftlimster ot rolice.
From lacts like these arose his most wonderful
success, add the success ef every great ruler
is in proportion to his ability to put men in
their proper places. It is the ability to organ
ize. It is statesmanship, and that truly prac
tical part of it where it comes in contact with
facts. Sheridan's position to-day is the evi
dence of the degree in which Grant possesses
this high quality. When Sheridan first fell
under the eye of the great leader, he was a
commissaty in Missouri. He might have been
a commissary still, with all his rare qualities,
if the War Office had had its will. What man
ner of man had Stanton in the sort of post to
which Grant eventually advanoed Sheridan ?
Stanton's man for Sheridan's places was
Sigel I In the face of such a fact, is it strange
that the war dragged its bloody length
through bo many years f But Grant insisted
that the Sigels and Butlers should go t the
rear, and he kept the Sherldans in front. His
persistency in pushing Sheridan gave us Win
chester, Cedar Creek, Five Forks, and flually
gave us Sheridan at INew Orleans; aud the
people, in cheering the hero lor ins achieve
ments at all those places, record their judg
ment of the great abilities of him who, in his
own modest words, "gave Sheridan an
opportunity."
Another point in these demonstrations is
that Sheridan has made himself conspicuous
and dear to the popular heart in the unex
pected character of a great logical interpreter
ot the Oonstltullou, wno, oi 01 nis own sim
ple honesty, has said and done mora for the
vindication of that instrument man an ine
lawyers together. He showed the neoeasity
of adherence to the Constitution as all the
legalists and hair-splitters in Christendom
could not have done between this and dooms
day. He went to New Orleans, and in down
right earnestness entorced the late Reconstruc
tion laws of Congress. He proved ill that
way, as it never could have been proved in
auy other, the enormity of those laws. He
executed them to the literal extremity of their
provisions. He did not bear lightly on their
offensive points to make theru seem other
than they were, aud so commend them to
lavor. His simple enforewment nf those laws
was the most complete possible vindication of
wiu v-udiiuiuou iney defied, lie did not prate
of the laws; he executed them, and their effect
was seu. He did not apostrophize the Con-
""u"""i ouuweu wuat it was to govern
P" v"" ""uiry Without it. In this
way to-aay Ue manas up as the foremost
friend of the Constitution, and the man who
has done more than any other to nhov th
people the danger of departure from its prin
ciples.
Grant and Sheridan, therefore our two
greatest practical statesmen Lave exhibited
their abilities to some purpose and are a neces
sary Dart of the nation's future. It is useless
to muddle over the special phases of present
party strife. One broad fact only is distinct
and beyond doubt; it is that a reaction against
the Republican party is felt throughout the
land, because that party has abused its power.
But aside from the emphasis they give to this
reaction, the elections now forthcoming mean
but little, and it Is of comparatively small
moment which way they go, either in this
State or Pennsylvania. What Republican
lose Copperheads expect to gain, and that is
all there is of the result to the people. Bat
the reaction against the Republicans is beguu,
and it is for the people, by their own move
ment and utterances, to strengthen that, to
give it the depth aud force aud impulse that
will carry all before it. To do this with effect,
the people, so soon as these fall elections
are over, must organize the grand campaign
of the next Presidency with Grant and Sheri
dan the chosen dials and practical statesmen,
types of the best qualities of a great people.
This is the way that the people must deter
mine the future of the nation. These elec
tions will determine nothing, though they
may exhibit still more clearly the tendency
already indicated elsewhere; but by rallying a
grand constitutional party around the two
great soldiers, the people will determine all.
Reconstruction will thus begin directly with
the people and in the demolition of parties.
Such a reconstruction, guaranteeing that the
great results of the war shall not be lost, but
that the nation shall not be destroyed by the
factions a guarantee that would lie in the
very fact of the success of Grant and Sheridan
such a reconstruction will be complete and
natural, and will establish national peace and
safety on sure bases. Up with the standard,
then, for Grant and Sheridan !
Something to be Afraid Of.
Mom the N. Y. Timet.
It is not for a moment to be supposed that
the Washington politicians and Wall street
speculators who have been thrown into such
a terrible panic by the reports about the
Maryland militia, have any political or pecir
niary ends to subserve by circulating the
news that they concoct. We, ourselves,
would not underrate the ominous nature of
the news, nor would we say that it does not
furnish an excellent reason why gold should
go to 150 and the Republican candidates be
elected. If we were "long" in gold, or if we
were a candidate for the popular vote, we
might perhaps think the "Maryland militia"
a very nice instrument to give our interests
a hoist; and as we heard of their procuring
grey uniforms, purchasing brass cannon,
and indulging in all sorts of warlike antics,
we should feel assured, quite assured, that
the credit of the nation, as well as the exist
ence of the Government, was imperilled; and
we should rush to the gold room and buy a
million or more at current rates, while at the
same time we sent the prospective profits to
aid in the election of lieu Wade.
For consider what may happen from the
Maryland Governor organizing these hosts of
untamed militia. It he has put six hundred
regiments (or even if it be but six rugimnta
of them In the field that is to say, has in
scribed their names on foolscap; and if he has
purchased for them an entire half-dozen brass
Napoleon G-pounder guns, and if they have
clothed themselves in Confederate grey, and if
they have sworn an oath that they will do
their duty on any field where they may be
mustered then who can deny that there is
good ground for the fear that Governor Swann
may order them to inarch upon Washington,
garrote Congress, and proclaim Johnson? How
can it be positively known that such a formi
dable array of militia will not make Bhort
work with a few hundred members of Congress
and bid defiance even to the million veteran
soldiers whom General Grant recently com
manded 1 There is assuredly no telling what
may take plaon if Wendell Phillips and the
Jribune, and Charles Sumner and the Chrom
ic, aud other sentinels on the watch-towers ot
freedom, fail for a moment to keep an eye on
these sanguinary grey coats, and utter their
warnings to an imperilled country. We do not
wonder that General Grant (or rather, we
should say, Maior-General Butler) considers
that the whole thing has an "ugly look," and
solemnly thinks the loyal Governors should
take immediate measures to thwart the first
efforts of a body of militia whose prospective
doings are enough to terrify even military
souls. We think really that, considering the
circumstances ot the case the perils to Wash
Ington, the perils to Congress, the perils to
the eagle, the flag, and the Union that the
least any man can think of doing, is to take
the six brass guns from these six militia regi-
nil nts, and send the entire force to the Dry
lortugas, withiieneral liutler to govern them.
nil hub s uuiib win vne peace 01 tne coun
try ne ueyond disturbance.
The Defense of Mexico.!
From the W. Y. Tribune.
If it is unfortunate for Mexico that she needs
defense, it is well that she has Senor Romero
for a defender. That gentleman in his speech
almost disarms criticism by the frankness and
force of his argument, and the sincerity o
his friendship for the United States. In the
eight years during which he has represented
his Government at Washington, Senor Romero
has had ample assurance of the good-will of
our peopie to tne wexican Republic; he has
been enabled to inform his countrymen that
as we are ourselves resolved not to interfere
with Mexican affairs, so we are resolved that
other nations shall not interfere. In ' the
letters read at the banquet, General Grant inti
mates, and benator Cameron expressly
declares, that if the Mexican victory
had been much longer delayed, our
armies would have helped to win it.
Senor Romero knows what the effect of such
intervention would have been, and may judge
if it is merely a diplomatic boast that we
would have helped Mexico, male after help
ceased to be desired. Ui has freely admitted
that our sympamy wuu tne republic contri
buted, iu a great measure, to its triumph.
When he returns to Mexico he may safely tell
his countrymen that the United States would
not permit a second invasion; that we rejoioe
in their independence; anu mat all our sym
pathies are with their efforts to wstablish pros
perity and peace and treedom. He may tell
them that among all the natiom 0f the earth
Mexico has no friend more trae, more atronir.
than the United States, and non that is ready
to co as far to make its friendship effective.
But there is one thing which h cannot tell
them. He cannot say that the sober verdict
of our people sustains "the execution of Maxi
milian. ' ' ' "
We do not desire to reopen the argument
unon that ouestion. Senor Koniero has re-
viewed in his speech the usurpation of Maxi
milian, and without the slightest trace of ill.
temper has Bhown its wantonness aud wicked
ness. We are willing to admit ail that may
be said upon that subject, but it must be ob
served that Senor Romero himself admits that
Maximilian was not the author, but was oulj
the instrument of the- crime. Thn official repre- I
sentative of Mexico declares that Maximilian
was on the point of leaving Mexico forever; I
that he remained there for the avowed purpose
of placing the failure of the invasion upon the
rrench Government; that it was his intention
to have tested the pretenses of his friends that
the majority of the Mexicans desired him to
remain, by submitting to the vote of the peo-
file the question ot a republic or au empire,
t these are facts, as the Mexican Minister
affirms them to be, then Maximilian was
indeed more weak than wicked. He was
what Senor Romero pronounces him an
automaton. He was equally with Mexico
the victim of the ambition of Napoleon. But
do the Mexican people pride thumselves
upon destroying automatons because they
cannot reach the power that moves? Did
they shoot the dnpe Maximilian to revenge
themselves on his betrayer r we cannot see
the courage of this act, aud certainly perceive
its want of magnanimity. And we absolutely
deny that the safety of Mexico required such
a sacrifice. The trench had retired in disgrace;
the invaders were everywhere defeated;
Mexico had sufficient guarantees that the
United States would make another interven
tion impossible. It was in the moment of her
perfect victory, with the national honor vindi
cated, her independence established, and the
future doubly secured against European inter
ference, that she revenged the wrongs she naa
endured not upon the hand that dealt them,
but upon the tool it used. Senor Romero has
eloquently described the incapacity of Maxi
milian to comprehend the situation, and his
utter helplessness long before his capture, and
the demonstration of the strength of Mexico
is anything but a justification of its policy.
Had the nation been weak, it might perhaps
have executed thi3 poor prisoner as a menace;
had it held its real enemy in its power it might
justly have punished him; but it was strong
enough to be humane, and should have been
too proud to put an automaton to death as a
satislaction to its wounded honor.
The abstract right which the Mexican re
public undoubtedly possessed to shoot Maxi
milian must not be confounded with the wis
dom or necessity of asserting it. Govern
ments have the legal power to do many
things which civilized nations condemn
The execution of captives is among them;
and, while we give respectful consideration
to the plea which benor Komero has made,
we cannot think that the judgment of the
nineteenth century will accept it. In shoot
ing Maximilian Mexico opposed herself to
the spirit of modern civilization. The Fijian
kings, when they build a palace, slay a
certain number of their subjects, and bury
them in the foundations, that the palace
may Btand forever. But the republic of
Mexico did not need a corpse for its corner
stone, or the sacrifice of blood to make holy
Its portals. The act, however, is not to be re
voked, and it would be wise not to attempt its
defense. We prefer to turn from the past to
the future, and to look with hope to the en
lightened and liberal policy to whioh Senor
Romero last night pledged his people. Had
that policy been firmly established ten years
ago, no foreign power would have dared to in
vade Mexico, nor would she need the apology
which her statesmen olfer in vain. We ask
i mora than to forget her mistake in her
glory. There is no American patriotism
which is not also sympathy with our sister
republic. The Mexican people have proved
their greatness and their power, and we believe,
with their distinguished Minister,that they
will equally prove their capacity for Belt-government
and progress. No people has been
more bitterly slandered, and none has more
completely justified its valor and its intelli
gence.
Italy.
Tribune.
From the jv 1'
The Italian people continue to protest again.-!
the arrest of their greatest and noblest man at
the request of a foreign monarch. The out
breaks at Naples, Genoa, and Milan have beeu
followed by one at Viterbo, which, it appears,
has been more serious thau any of the former
ones. The idea of being the enslaved teols of
France begins to fill the people with an indig
nation which alarms the Government. The
report that Cialdinl is to follow Ratrzzi as
Prime Minister still needs confirmation; if true,
it would either indicate that the Government
wishes to disown the sentiments of Ratazzi, or
make special military preparations for meeting
outbreaks. Cialdim is not knowu to have
very decided views as a politician. In Parlia
ment he has been a general supporter of the
Ministerial policy.
A singular declaration is made by a semi
official paper of the Government, the Opinione
of Florence. It Bays that Rome will soon
belong to Italy, and that without a violation
of treaty. The object of this semi-official
statement is obvious; it is to tranquillize the
national party by giving a new pledge that the
Government, notwithstanding the arrest of
Garibaldi, does not abandon the design of
securing the annexation of Rome. The Oov-
vernmeut is perhaps begging at Paris or Rome
for some concessions, for appearance sake, to
the popular sentiment; but we regard it as
highly improbable that a real annexation of
the liternal City has been resolved upon.
The excitement which prevails throughout
Italy with regard to the recent events natu
rally gives rise to the wildest rumors. Thus it
was reported last night that there had been au
insurrection in Rome, and that the Pope had
fled to Civita Vecchia, a city situated on the
coast. The news is probably incorrect, and,
at all events, needs confirmation. It is, how
ever, highly probai le that, sooner or later, an
insurrectionary attempt will be made iu Rome,
as all the preparations had been made by
Garibaldi.
Salmon P. Chaee ae "a Great Fluaucler"
aud a Candidate for l'ieIUeui.
From the Jv". Y. World.
General Butler has written another astutet
incisive letter in support of his project for
paying off the publio debt in legal tender
greenbacks. He addresses himself this time
to the Tribune, in reply to some sharp
denunciations of his plan by that journal.
The Tribune furnishes a rejoinder, which
occupies more space than the letter; but
it ShleS tmtier S points buu ruuu ima
vague moral considerations. It is no ade
quate reply to General Butler's reasoning
to t.M him he "seems deficient in moral
sensibility." Such an imputation may be
true enough in point of fact; but if the
devil himself should make au able argu
ment to prove that the debt is not due
in coin, he would be unfairly dealt by if
his i antagonist, instead of meeting and ex
ploding his leanoulng, Bhould hint that he
was a great rascal. The Tribune shirks Gene
ral Butler's main positiou that the Govern
ment has never contracted to pay the princi
pal of the five-twenties in coin, aud contends
that the Government is morally bound to do
better by its creditors than it promised that
it must pay "wheat," though it may have
only promised "oats." Now it seems to us
that the hinge of the controversy is exactly
where Butler locates it namely, in the quea-
Old Bye Miiskies.
TI IIC LA KG EST AND 13EM' STOCK OF
F I K E OLD RYE W II I 8 K I C 8
IV THE LKD IS NOW rOS KISSED BY
BEKHY S. HANNIS & CO,,
I'08. 218 and 220 SOUTH FBONT 5IEEET,
W1I OI ir.lv Til F. ft Ali: T4 TI1F. IRADR IK E.OT0 UN VI BT Al VASTAftROVI
TEK.-n.
Vtoelr Stock of lljre IVhUfciee, IN BOND, enmj.rUoe all the favorite branaa
ireMiit d.u""" tliiouah tbe varlona moattia of li,'6, and of thla year, ap t
irlY."1- S.i,tr!" ' to arrive a frelTanta Railroad leptl
Krrlraton Line Uharf.or at Bouded Warebonees, ae parties may elect.
tion whether the Government did, or did not,
engage to pay the principal in coin. We have
already given our views on this point, and
will net repeat them now. There is only one
new point in Sutler's last letter, aud that we
will try to dispose of at the end of this article.
Our purpose is not to confute Butler anew,
but to expose Chase.
Butler's letter to the Tribune does not de
monstrate his main position, but it does de
monstrate that the financial policy of Mr.
Chase was a muddle and a bungle; demon
strates that his policy was so vacillating, in
consistent, and self-contradictory, that amid
the confusing cross-lights the rights of the
public creditors and the obligations of the
Government are open to endless questionings,
and liable to be tossed hither and thither on a
fluctuating sea of uncertainties. The editor
of the Trihune stands foremost among Mr.
Chase's admirers and eulogists, and the
evasive feebleness of his rejoinder to Butlor
corroborates the conclusion that Mr. Chase
was a financial charlatan. It is susceptible of
historical proof that the contradictory loan
laws were drafted by the then Secretary of
the Treasury. We know this fact from the
most authentic source; it was publicly
stated by Mr. Hooper, the organ of the
Committee of Ways and Means, in the House
of Representatives. General Butler is enabled
to make out a plausible case, because the
various laws are a clashing set of inconsistent
enactments, instead of a harmonious system.
It is quite true, as General Butler states, that
the greenbacks are a tender for everything
except Government interest and duties ou
imports. The language Inscribed on every
greenback means nothing, or it means that
the greenbacks must be accepted in payment
of the public debt. It is true that there are
other enactments inconsistent with this; it. is
true that Mr. Chase made promises and held
out inducements of quite a contrary tenor; but
is a farrago of jostling enactments and pro
mises such a financial policy as the country
had a right to expect from an able minister of
finance ? The fact that he left the door open
for such unsettling controversies as have
arisen; that he furnished materials for such
specious arguments as those advanced by
General Butler, must cause his lauded ability
as a financier to pass into a total eclipse.
How easy it would have been, by a little
consideration and foresight, to avoid discus
sions whioh tend to shake the publio credit to
its foundation t How easy it would have been
to furnish argument to the Tribune whioh
would have tripped up Butler's heels by a
single touch of its toe ! A single additional
word inscribed on the greenbacks, the two
little words "in coin" transplanted from the
ten-forty to the five-twenty loan bill, would
have left Butler and those who think with
him without a shred of plausible argument.
li uenerai isutier's doctrine is as pernicious as
the Tribune declares it to be, why was thero
not forecast enough to shut the door against
it ? The Tribune says:
"If every American would say, Wo will pay
our public debt to the uttermost hii-thing !'.we
might soon fund our debt at 4 per cint. As it
is, w e hhall Iovk pay lllty millions per auuurn
In extra interest ueeuiiNe of the threat aud
dread of virtual rcpiWlutlou. And that llfty
millions would pny of our entire debt In less
than forty years. We are for reducing both
principal find interest so fast as can honestly be
dont; and we object to all doiiges tuat suvor of
repudiation that they preclude this most do
blrod consummation."
It is but a day or two since the Tribune
praised Mr. Chase as our most accomplished
financier since Hamilton. But how could so
treat a genius for finance have leit open this
j awning gap through which, by the Tribune's
own showing, there flows annually fifty mil
lions of was'ed treasure, when the insertion of
two thort words in the statutes drawn by this
smous financier would have shut up this
reat Bluice-way lorever ? Why were the
ords "in coin" in the ten-forty bill, and not
n the five-twenty bill f What could Butler
tay for himself, if those words had been in
terted instead of being omitted f Their oinis-s-ion,
which can be proved to have been by
design, and the makiug of the greenbacks a
tender for everything except customs duties
and Government interest, enable Butler to
make out u case so plausible that his views
will find a wide acceptance a3 soon as a
consideiable contraction of the currency
causes the pressure of taxes to be more
severely felt. It is for the admirers of Mr.
Chase to explain why he left the public credit
exposed to such specious and damaging at
tacks. If he meant to pay the five-twenties iu
coin, why did he not so draw the statute as to
leave the point free from doubt f The Tribune
would not thou be driven to "Paley's Moral
Philosophy" for arguments to supply the ac
knowledged silence of the law on a point
deemed vital to the publio credit. It is Mr.
Chase, not General Butler, that is shaking
public confidence; for General Butler is
merely exposing Mr. Chase's financial disar
rangements. His "system" is a chaos of con
tradictions, of which it is as easy to prove one
thing as another, according as attention is
drawn to one or another of its flashing parts.
We could point out other inconsistencies
equally gross; but those now exposed will
suffice for the present. If Mr. Chase is run
lor President, we can promise that his finan
cial renown will be pretty thoroughly riddled.
It remains to redeem our promise of meet
ing General Butler's single new point. He
states it with Fpeeious ingenuity as follows:
"If the United Hlaiee should uv cuooso to
exerclxe iu tight to pay lu. iu (whicu would
htin tube wUe, as they are uulaxaltiu, so that
their InteieM Is, in fuel, from onu lo turee per
eeut. blgherltban blx per. cent to the holder), iu
thai case, why should the Government be called
Upon to pay In sold or Us qu!vlet In car
rel. cy, huy U'i, when anybody tune uu buy tneut
Hi 111!?
"Why should thetax-payer becalled upon to
pny the bolder from 31) lo 10 percent, more, iu
oroei to l. deem these bonds. tuu, as they now
have iherltibtto do. the cupttalUt la now Will
ing to "ell them tor to anybody eine T"
This is artful, but it lacks substance. Its
fallacy couth ts iu confounding two operations
-utiiely dictiuct in their nature. There can
be no objection, on tbe score of national honor,
to the Government buying its bonis iu the
matket, at the market price, like other pur
ibaseis. This would tend to enhance, not
depreciate their value; inasmuch as it would
widen the market and increase tha deuasuil.
P.ut paying the bonds is quite a different ope
ration. The purchase alluded to can just as
well be mde before the expiration of the fiva
years as after. General Butler certainly means
something different from this, for his whola
reasoning goes on the payability of the
bonds at the option of the Government.
auer me nve years are up.
He means, then
that they are
(or ho talks nonsense),
to be paid in some way
before the expiration of
not permissible,
the live years.
but permissible afterwards.
This of course
excludes purchase and includes payment, pro
perly so called, in the lirst case, the holder sells
or not, as he pleases; his decision dopending
on a caiance oi advantages between keeping
his bond3 till maturity and drawing the in
terest, or taking such a present price as the
Government is willing to offer. In the latter
case, he has no option at all. The Govern
ment gives notice that, on a oertain date, the
bonds will be redeemed and the interest
stopped. If he does not accept the proffered
payment, they become dead, unproductive
property. It is this latter case that General
Butler is called to meet, but he dexterously
evades it by insisting on the dofensibility of the
first. It is a false analogy, totally irrelevant
(as we hope we have convinced the' reader) to
the point in discussion.
INSTRUCTION.
GREAT NATIONAL TELEGRAPHIC
AND
COMMERCIAL INSTITUTE,
KOS. 809 AKD 811 II1ESNUT STREET
PHILADELPHIA.
li E MOV A Li
To the Fluot College Itoomi In theCltyi
Part of the (second, aud the whole of the Third ana
Fourth Floors et
BANK OF EEPCBLIO BUILDINGS,
Nearly Opposite th Continental Hotel.
Tbe best orgauized and conducted Business College
in the city,
Tbe Corps ot Teachers bas no superior.
Education lor tbe Counting-room to the shortest
possible time consistent with tbe Interests of tbe
student.
Bend lor circular.
28 Sin JACOB II. TAYLOR. President.
A WERICAK CONSERVATORY OP MUSIC,
U.- fci. K. coi iiit ot TENTH uud VVALN UT Htreeis.
Otlice Hours-lu A. 11. to 12 M and 4 lo 10 P. M.
In order to ncrommodate the large number of ap
pllrttnla for nuuilsmon as stuiletits at tlie Conserva
tory, tbe limited number bus been Increasud to Jim
nitiidrrti, and tbe Subscription Books will be kept open
nutil all vacancies shall be tilled.
JiiHtructio' K at the CIbhs Kooms will positively
beiiln on MONDAY, October 7.
Pupils' Season Tickcs f.lr tbe Grand Concerts and
Wutinees are now reody, and will be Issued with tbe
receipt for tuition. Jtiai
RUGBV ACAIEAiY, rOU YOUNG MEN
..t tfJ?8,0'8' Ko- 1116 LOCLnT Rtreet, KDWARD
CLARKNCJ'. fcMITJl, A. M., Princl.al.-He-opeu
bepteniber )6. Pupils prepared tor business or pro
feHHional lite, or tor hlirh Binding In college,
A tirst-ciasa Primary Department tu separate
rf;??lh.tJlrc,i:,ir,,j Wltu ful1 lnloriuatlon, at No. lot
Cil hoKDl' Mii, 8 12 2m
UXl.AlL HOW,
C. m. NEEDLES & CO.,
j Eleventh and Chesuut Street.
HCUSI-FURBISHSKG DRY G3CDS, j
Bought t the Becent Depressed Prices.
Pblrtlrm. Pillow, Phfeting, and Table Linens.
Table 4 'li ths ant) NapkliiH, to match.
vyineCli.tb. Doylies, Towels and Towelling.
Marseilles uullts auu Toilet Covers,
.blanket.
Honeycomb, Lancaster. Allendale, Jacquard,
and other bpreuds,
DOMESTIC WCeLINS AND SHEETINGS,
In all qualities aud widths, at tbe lowest rates.
'Moii mi VMI f)
LOCKING - CLA88E0
OF THB
BL'kT FBEXCH PLATE,
In Every Stylo of Frames,
ON HAND OR MADE TO ORDKS.
NEW ART GALLERY,
F. BOLATJD is. CO.
10 2 ImwftiiJpl JVo. C14 AltCII Htreet.
R A L T I M ORE
f-''X IMPhOVKl) BASE BtJKMNd , '
Sit' ' IKE-PLACE UE4.TER,
V . "L-1
ar-5.f, . with ' ' ' " '
' ,7'
b had U hOJowui" and Jtei.ill ot . '.Af Uf -
Illi2 No. luw M A UK ri'NW- Pol'
BOXES! M OX K sPboX E 3!
Franklin Planum Ml I. all kind of 1M . B
Mionka and Lap llouiua trade In wrt.n. A '""
her for salt, worked suit custiniier, Ali.vbll
and Hard Piun Moorina. iJ. M Will IT Mi, N.K. cor
lir ol Ul&aitD Avenue aud VIENNA uu I J